So soon after we welcomed Sheena, Ruby had a severe downturn.
Ruby had had one operation for the removal of a mast cell tumor back in February but we were advised by the vet that almost certainly it would grow back. Late on Saturday Ruby became very tired and went off her food and Jean and I were discussing having to take her to be put down on Monday (today).
Then overnight Saturday it was clear that her breathing was very laboured and on Sunday she was weak and struggling. It was time.
Being a Sunday we had no option other than to go to the Southern Oregon Veterinary Specialty Center, or SOVSC. We called them and they asked a few questions about Ruby and then told us to come straight over. They are at Biddle Road, Central Point and it took us 45 minutes to get there.
A little bit from their website:
Outstanding Team
Our team includes board certified specialists and highly trained doctors and staff, who have been chosen for their skill and expertise, as well as their compassion and dedication to veterinary medicine.
Then a couple of photographs from us.
oooo
Jeannie saying goodbye.
Ruby was the last of Jean’s Mexican rescues. She will be sorely missed!
Those were Jeannie’s words not mine. When you consider the number of dogs that Jean has introduced into her pack, especially down in Mexico, that is quite a statement!
Very soon after Renate coming round to our place at 10 am yesterday morning Sheena came into the house. I tried to take a few photographs in those early moments. They are not the best I have taken!
Sheena within minutes goes to her bed.
oooo
Little Pedi watching Sheena!
oooo
oooo
oooo
Sheena getting to know Oliver.
oooo
oooo
oooo
Now we have yet to go a full day (as this is being written on Friday for publication at midnight PDT tonight). But Jean and I have a good feeling about Sheena.
The idea for today’s post came to me from Amanda down in Australia.
We go back years and years and have stayed in contact with each other over that time.
In her latest email she wrote (my italics):
I started some classes at the beginning of the year, a family history research one and a writing one, which had to stop a couple of weeks short courtesy of the virus. The family history class was essentially finished, but the writing class (How to Read/Write a Biography) is an ongoing thing, with the tutor being a published author. I signed up for term two of the writing class as the tutor decided to trial conducting it on-line via Zoom. Many people in the class are either writing a biography or just writing about their lives for their children or grandchildren, so the tutor encouraged us all to write a short piece about this COVID-19 outbreak; observations, feelings, how it’s affected us, or whatever we wanted. There are only six of us in the class, but it was fascinating to hear the resulting six pieces, so utterly different in tone and content, but all really interesting.
I wonder if you could invite something similar from your readers? Imagine the different perspectives and experiences of your readers in their different parts of the world! Just a thought anyway .
So how have you and your dogs been affected. Your feelings, your observations, how it has affected you, and any other thoughts.
And I will close with a photograph that Amanda sent me years ago.
Now this is a story about a specific event, taking Sadie to the vet. But there’s a more fundamental theme to this post and that is the role of music in our lives and in the lives of our dogs.
ooOOoo
Dog Is Terrified Of Vet — Until He Decides To Sing To Her
From the Daily Dodo, May 22nd, 2020
Photo Credit: Kaeley Simek
Sadie was rescued from a local shelter when she was around a year old, and when she joined her family, she was quick to let them know that she was always down to have fun.
“Her personality is SO sassy and playful,” Kaeley Simek, Sadie’s mom, told The Dodo. “Ever since we gave her her first toy, she loves to play as often as she can. She is very high-energy and pretty much up for anything.”
While Sadie is usually the life of the party, the one thing that doesn’t make her smile is having to go to the vet.
“Sadie was not scared of vets when first rescuing her, but once she realized that she always goes there to get shots or if she has pain, she quickly learned it is not a fun place to be,” Simek said.
Photo Credit: Kaeley Simek
Sadie didn’t have great vet experiences when she was first rescued, and after that, she was absolutely terrified every time she realized that’s where she was headed. Her mom desperately wanted to find a vet who would understand Sadie’s anxiety and try to work with her to overcome it — and that’s when they met Dr. Noah.
“We started going to Dr. Noah of Dr. Noah’s Ark in Shorewood, [Wisconsin], in September of 2019,” Simek said. “After the bad experiences, I researched heavily a vet who would take time to understand and accept scared/reactive dogs. He was very highly rated and I also saw many reviews that [said] he doesn’t wear the ‘white coat’ at appointments, which can be a huge trigger for dogs.”
At their first visit, Simek explained Sadie’s anxieties to Dr. Noah, and it wasn’t hard to see how scared she was. That’s when Simek learned that Dr. Noah’s secret trick was singing to his patients.
In order to try and calm them down and make them feel more comfortable, Dr. Noah serenades the dogs who are scared or nervous — and most of the time, it totally works.
Photo Credit: Kaeley Simek
“The first time we went to him, he sang to her and she ended up on the floor kissing him and he was able to give the two shots she needed,” Simek said. “He has sang to her ever since.”
Dr. Noah understands that going to the vet can be overwhelming for some pets, so he does his best to create a positive experience for them the best way he knows how — through music.
“He heavily believes that music can completely change the mood,” Simek said.
For Sadie, it’s definitely been working. Even though she’s still scared when she first gets there, she definitely trusts Dr. Noah more than any other vet she’s been to, and with his help and his music she’s slowly learning that the vet isn’t actually so scary after all.
“She still has a lot of fear about the vet but he takes the time to sit down with her and we go for happy vet visits weekly so she can have positive associations,” Simek said. “He has the biggest heart out of any vet I’ve ever seen.”
ooOOoo
It’s very clear, from this story and many others including our personal experience of dogs, that dogs’ emotional responses are advanced and in many ways their emotions are familiar to us humans.
I’m going to include two videos.
The first is from 2012 and is a very short extract from the BBC Horizon video: Can dogs sense emotion?
And the second is a longer video but still only 18 minutes.
That second video shows the remarkable qualities of the dog and the similarities between the dog’s brain and the human brain!
An Australian Koolie dog who was abandoned by his family has been rescued and retrained to detect koalas.
Bear has been following the aftermath of Australia’s bushfires since January, finding sick, injured or starving koalas that otherwise would have perished. He has now found more than 100.
Produced and edited by Isabelle Rodd
This is a delightful news story and a change from the more ‘normal’ news that we get.
At the end of April I received an email which said, in part, the following:
My name is Grace and I’m a passionate blogger and a content writer. I love writing about pets and wellness. I was crawling your blog page: https://learningfromdogs.com/ and found your articles very interesting. I must admit that your website has a great collection of high-quality articles. Having said that, I’d love to contribute an article to your website as a guest blogger.
I expressed real interest and Grace then came back to me with a list of topics.
I chose the one on canine cancer.
Here it is.
ooOOoo
Four Types Of Canine Cancer: Symptoms And Treatment
By Grace Hawkins, May 21st, 2020
(Deleted at 16:00 PDT on the 27th May, 2020 as a result of a disagreement regarding commercial links.)
ooOOoo
I asked Grace to include a little about herself.
Grace Hawkins is a full time content marketing specialist and a passionate writer who loves to write about pet’s health and lifestyle. She believes in a thoughtful exploration of how you shape your thoughts, experience of the world.
Now there were a number of website links in the article that for some reason didn’t transfer across. For her next article, and I do hope there is one, I will have it sent differently.
May 26th. I subsequently received an email from Grace. It said:
Hi Paul
The post looks great
But it won’t be possible for me to provide another article at this point of time.
Can please edit the article and add this dog food link to the article.
Just a few weeks ago new neighbours moved in to the property that adjoins us to the South.
They are Mike and Hannah Mills and they have three children; Hunter, Scarlet and Clover. Hunter is the eldest and he will be 9 on May 27th. When we went across to meet them I very quickly learnt that Hunter is a budding writer. Just as quickly I offered to publish a story from him in this place.
He used the following picture as a writing prompt.
Here is his story!
ooOOoo
A Big Dog
By: Hunter Mills, May 2020.
It was a cloudy morning.
A man was walking on the street and all of a sudden a big, big, big, big dog appeared out of the clouds.
The man was so cold, but he had to run! He ran fast, so he had to stop and rest and he stopped to rest, and hid. He got a little breath but the dog had a super good nose so he sniffed out the man and he had to run away again.
The dog was so fast it caught up to the man and it only licked him! The dog licked him again and the man ran away to a nearby building.
The man thought the dog was mean, but it was just trying to snuggle the man.
He went to the dog store and bought some dog treats and a big, big, big, big leash for the dog. He bought a new house so the dog could fit in the house.
So the next time a big, big, big, big dog starts to run after you, you should see if he wants to eat you or snuggle you.
If he lays down next to you, keep him. If not, run for your life!!
ooOOoo
I have not changed a single word of Hunter’s story. All I have done is to alter the formatting so that it is easier on the eye.
This is Hunter with his two dogs Soldier and Hank.
Hunter is already a good writer and it’s a delightful work of fiction.
Hopefully, this is the first of many that I may have the privilege of publishing!
May I ask a favour? That is that if you ‘Like’ this post you also say so in a comment. For I am sure Hunter will be along to see what you all thought of his creative juices! Thank you.
Learning from Dogs 